The Giant's rule
by Crazycatscarmen
Summary: Hey! How ya doin? Tbh I wrote this very late at night- and it's not as good as I thought it was when I posted, because ya know, sleep delirium. But that's okay! I probably won't update but I hope you enjoy this confusing...thing! It's supposedly a sander side fic with all four of them. Patton and Virge are the only two you really meet (so far) though. UPDATE: It's been updated! XD
1. One for all, never for one

**Welcome weary traveler...please. Sit and relax. Let me tell you a story...  
**

* * *

It was dark, the crumbling walls shrouded in shadows. It was almost overwhelming, the way his vision was clouded by the lack of light. Almost... suffocating.

Almost.

He shuddered and curled in closer on himself, bringing his sleeves over his hands and squeezing his legs into the warmth of his worn hoodie.

The filthy dirt hole he'd found himself wasn't the warmest place he could've settled in, but it was safe. Despite his fears that something would jump from the darkest corners of the cavern, it was at least shelter from the snow outside. He sighed, purposely ignoring it when he could see his breath crystallize in the freezing air.

After the giant wars, nothing had been the same. No one was even sure where the towering humanoids had come from. It was as if they had lied dormant for years and decided to just _appear_ one day. Then everything was different. The very trees had grown in size to accommodate the new rulers of the world. He wouldn't be surprised if the entire earth had tripled in size and the human race just didn't get the memo.

Whatever the reasoning, the Giants had completely obliterated the human race.

Well, so the Giants thought. The humans were scattered, yes. Some banded together, others headed out on their own, and some had no idea they weren't alone in the world.

Those that did stick together called themselves the borrowers. They risked their lives pillaging out the Giants homes. Strangely enough, a Giant home was much like a human abode would be, just...larger.

He happened to know this because he'd been thrown out from one such group. Apparently, he'd been too much of a burden to keep around. Okay so maybe he wasn't great at stealing from creatures that gave him panic attacks just to think about! That didn't mean he was completely useless.

Did it? He shook his head and did his best to curl in further on himself to conserve what little body warmth he had as he closed his eyes. He was exhausted from walking for so long and everything ached. His supposed 'friends' had kicked him out of their shelter with little to nothing.

He wasn't going to last long like this. He knew it, they knew it. It was probably what they had been hoping for.

No one needed a waste of space eating up their limited supplies.

He wasn't sure when he'd starting agreeing with them, that he was useless, but he didn't fight it. He was too tired to fight much of anything, much less defended his weak self-esteem.

Soon his breathing evened out and he fell into a restless sleep.

* * *

 **Would you like a warm drink before we continue? I believe I have a packet of Cocoa around somewhere...**


	2. All for the pun

**Ah! I found it. Let me get the kettle as we continue...  
**

* * *

Patton blinked. A light was shining bright and warm into his eyes through his bedroom window. He sat up quickly and thought about yesterday's predicament.

Patton had been found by a team of borrowers. They had found him in the windowsill of a Giant's apartment complex. He had been hiding there, keeping a low profile. It was easier that way. He was able to steal any food he needed by crawling through a crack in the wood and grab whatever the giantess had left on the counter. Not that he condoned stealing, but he wasn't sure how else to get food without revealing himself.

He stared at the bare, gray walls of the room he was in and smiled. Perhaps he wouldn't have to steal so much anymore.

His eyes widened in wonder as he realized something important.

He was on a _bed_. He nearly cried. It had been what seemed like a century since he'd slept on a bed. He wasn't sure how long he'd be allowed the privilege, so he quickly lied back down.

That is until he thought about how many people were going without a bed that very moment. As soon as a swell of guilt began to well up inside of him, he sat up and said his goodbyes to the mattress. He moved to open the door and stepped out into the equally monochromatic hallway.

Patton glanced curiously down both ends of the hallway. To each of his sides, there was a door. He took a hesitant step towards the left, thinking he heard voices.

The door swung open before he could reach it and Patton stiffened.

A man stood in the doorway, eyes wide for a moment before they dawned with realization. The man laughed and walked closer to bring an arm around Patton's shoulders.

"Hey everyone! It's the newbie!" The man's voice bellowed out and the crowd all cheered.

Patton didn't think he was exciting enough to warrant any cheers, but he did suppose people nowadays didn't have a lot to celebrate. He grinned as he entered with the man and was introduced to everyone, and everyone was introduced to him.

This was going to be fun, he could just _feel_ it.

Several hours later and Patton was all caught up on the ways of these borrower's. The group called themselves The Redeemers. Their goals were more in line with creating a proper community, rather than just stealing for survival. They had set up camp in this building, an old abandoned hospital that somehow survived the Giant's destruction. They even had a garden and several small generators'. The one thing they really cherished, however, was the most important thing any human could ask for. Learning it had brought tears to his eyes that he couldn't hold back.

Plumbing. _A water heater_. Patton got to enjoy his first real shower since he went scavenging for scraps to live.

He had never been so happy. The entire group laughed along with his tears of joy, all of them saying they had reacted in the exact same way.

"Hey, uh... Patton, right?"

Patton turned his head to look behind him. The man that had brought him into the cafeteria during breakfast that morning was standing right behind him. It was dinner time now, and although both meals were meager, they were fresh, and Patton couldn't ask for much more than that.

He looked up at the man and smiled happily. "That's my name alright, kiddo!" Patton scooted his chair to the side to give the man room to sit. He nodded in acknowledgment to the kind gesture and sat quickly.

He held out his hand. Patton swiftly shook it. "Hey. The name's Jack. I wanted to ask you a few questions before, but I wanted to let you get comfortable first." The man - Jack - folded his hands on the table with a smile. "I know nothing seems more important than a shower once you realize you can get warm water."

Patton laughed a bit and bit into his food sheepishly. "It was rather nice." He said shyly.

Patton frowned internally. Since when had he ever been shy?

He supposed living alone, cold and tired made him a bit warier. A bit less trusting.

He hated that.

"Nice!?" Jack stared at him with mock offense. "I cannot believe anyone could call our home's lukewarm water something as degrading as NICE!" He laughed. Patton grinned as he stuffed the rest of his food in his face to avoid answering. He wasn't sure what to make of this Jack character. Everyone seemed kind, but Patton had heard the stories.

Everyone was nice until they learned you were more burden than a help.

The thought nearly brought tears to his eyes again. People being forced from human communities and thrown out on there own for being old or disabled. It was a time of survival, and Patton _loathed_ it. No one deserved to be abandoned or...or _killed_ because they were incapable of certain things.

He just hoped he wasn't marked as 'useless'.

But, Patton thought, this wasn't a normal borrowers group. They had a garden, so they must have gardeners, and the building was rather clean and tidy, not to mention the people who made the food. He was a rather good cook, and gardening used to be a hobby of his. He would be useful enough to keep around just because of that, right?

"So kiddo! What were you wanting to ask?" Patton moved the conversation along, trying to keep his doubts from getting any more hold in his mind and hopefully get some answers to soothe away a few of them.

Jack smiled. "Well, I just wanted to see what some of your talents were. Everyone here has a job, and we have a job for everyone. I need to know where to place you."

Patton felt as if a literal weight had been lifted from his shoulders. This was exactly what he had been worried about.

He raised a brow. "Well, what do you guys need?" Patton, although he liked cooking, and enjoyed gardening, wasn't really adept at either craft.

Jack looked thoughtful. "Hmm. We always could use more medical staff." He laughed. "For a hospital, we seem to be lacking in that department."

Patton laughed along but quickly shook his head. "All I know is the first aid they taught us in school. I wanted to be a doctor when I was younger until I learned how much blood was involved." He grinned nervously. Jack sighed.

"Ah, that's just fine. Didn't really expect for that one to work out. But that's alright. What CAN you do? What was your job before the... apocalypse? Has anyone decided what to call it?"

Patton shrugged, eyes wide. He'd never really thought about it. He shoved the thought away however as he thought about what he could that would be useful here.

Patton's face screwed up in a slow, uncertain shrug. "I can...knit? I was a morale officer once! I was mostly self-employed. I ran a pet shop." Patton smiled nostalgically. "I had the sweetest customers. I loved watching the children come in and play..."

While Patton was reminiscing, Jack raised a brow.

"Wait- you can knit? What else? Can you sew? Paint?"

Patton snapped back to attention.

"Paint? Why sure I can paint! It was one of my Major's in college! Art was sorta my first choice, but I had the opportunity to start my pet shop first, so that's what I rolled with." Patton summed up. Jack looked thrilled.

"Hey man, if I can get you some paint, do you think you can do something with the walls?" Jack gestured to the gray walls around them and Patton blinked.

"Sure kiddo! But...why?"

Jack looked at him with surprise. "Can't you...feel it?"

Patton's brow furrowed. "Um. The walls?"

Jack shook his head. "No...well I guess it's not really a necessity, but I really hate the walls." Jack scratched at the back of his neck. "It's just so...gloomy." Jack perked up. "Did I mention I'm the one who started this place? You could say I'm the leader. Everyone comes to me with their problems anyway, and if that doesn't make me a leader, I don't know what does."

Patton grinned. "Really!?"

Jack sighed with a smile. "Heh, yeah. I kinda feel responsible, ya know? And...I want this place to be a home, not a shelter." Jack scratched at his neck again. "You see how dull everyone looks."

Patton looked out at the thinning crowd and he was taken aback to see that not one person was smiling. Patton was surprised. They had all seemed so happy that morning.

"Woah..." Patton looked back at Jack. "Your right! Everyone seems so sad." Patton frowned as Jack nodded.

"Yep. No matter what happens, it goes right back to the doom and gloom." Jack ran an agitated hand through his hair before turning to Patton with a smile.

"So I think a morale officer is _positively_ perfect."

Patton froze. "Was that a...pun?"

Jack laughed. "I make no apologies."

Patton giggled a real, uncontrollable laugh for the first time in months, years even. Jack had no idea what he had just gotten himself into.

* * *

 **Ah- but that wasn't the end of it! Here, take your drink. I'm afraid the tale only gets worse from here...**

 **(Um. Idk I wrote this on my phone so if it's a bit wonky i'm sorry. Also, I suck at making puns. I love puns! I but I just can't PUN down how to make them. Hehe. Don't shoot me.)**


	3. This is normal for me- sorry about that

**One person asked for this to continue...but what I haven't told my weather-weary friend is that I did such a lousy job on the other chapters that I've decided to just start over... don't hate me! I hope you like this redo, because it's for you, ToffyChu!  
**

 **Oh dear, it looks like I've lost my page. Well, we weren't too far, were we? Allow me to start from the beginning.  
**

* * *

World war one lasted four years. World war two lasted six.

The Korean war lasted three. Yet they claimed it had been the worst.

Humans have always been plagued by war. It's in our blood. We spit and fight and we love it and we hate it and it keeps going on and on and on because we don't know anything else. Peace? Peace is for the weak, for the spineless. War gave us some of the most mind-blowing technological advancements the world have ever seen, yet who could stop to appreciate it when a war was going on? Humans fought other humans to obtain peace, yet if any of us really wanted that, we would just stop fighting, wouldn't we?

So much mindless death, too many screams for it to end and too little action.

We are familiar with death from a young age so that when we are thrown into a war we can handle it. We can stomach killing others because we were told it was okay, we're fighting for a cause, for a reason. They never really told you the reason, just that it was a good one, and we believe.

The reason wasn't peace, like we all thought, as we all hoped. Peace cannot be derived from war.

But you can conquer. You can take over and control and you can tell everyone that it is peace, and that is what they meant when they said 'it's for a good cause,' they want you to fight so they can keep leading and keep telling you what is right and what is wrong and they love it and _you_ hate it, but you keep going.

That was the war of the humans, the reason we kept tearing each other apart. One person needed control and even though his mother taught him 'sharing is caring' he turned the phrase and said that 'if they don't share, they don't care'. Yet he never did understand sharing, he thought sharing and control were the same things, he thought that if he asked, that it should be given, even though it wasn't his to ask for in the first place.

That's how it had been done. Until the Giants came.

That's when war became a game of duck and hide because it wasn't a war, it was a slaughter. Humans looked at each other and told themselves that anything was better than obliteration. They banded together, they fought against the Giants as one and even though they died in the process, they died together, for once united, but never at peace.

Years of war and the humans continued on. They hide in caves and holes, even as the earth seemed to grow around them. They stayed with one another, clinging to each other, races that once spat at one another, huddling together because they were one against the Giants and nature. Yet, even as they clung to their old enemies, the world was changing.

The Giants made themselves at home. They grew trees like bushes, and redwoods became the giant's trees. Buildings sprung from the ground, towering over everything. Humans recalled the growing potions they had once dreamed of and watched as it was poured over their world.

A decade flew by, and humans were still cowering. Yet they had adapted to the new planet they lived on. They built shelters out of the way of the Giant's eyes. Some had children and taught them how to scavenge. How to recycle something again and again and to never waste because everything they had was precious to them, and they taught how they were worthless in the eyes of those bigger than them. They learned how to make clothing out of anything remotely soft and pliable enough. They invented and schooled one another and some pretend that the world had never changed. And as they stayed together in harmony, surviving and learning from one another, the Giant's sat in their houses, unaware. Giants tucked in their children with bedtime stories of fairies in the woods, singing tales of things they didn't believe existed. It was the closest thing humans had ever gotten to being at peace.

Humans never did understand peace.

...

"And don't come back!"

The door slammed above him, the powerful bang echoing in his ears. He stared at his home - _former home-_ with wide eyes.

Darkness had just fallen over the forest and where was he? On a good day, he was inside that house, that little-broken cottage, snickering and rolling his eyes at poorly made jokes while a fire burned slowly in a handmade firepit. He was lying on a bed made of scavenged scraps and leaves, listening to the whistling of the wind as he fell asleep. He was safe as he dreamt of his old life, safe from the weather and safe from the shadows around him as his friends _-friends?-_ tended the fire and chattered softly.

Then there was today.

Today he was in the dirt, his eyes red and swollen with tears. He was on the ground outside that dirty old shack, trembling as his "friends" word's echoed in his ears. He was gasping for breath and trying - _trying so hard-_ to understand what had just happened because everything in his past had told him that it was impossible.

This was impossible. Yet here he was.

They told him he was safe, that he was one of them, that he would never have to do anything that made him uncomfortable. They would protect him, they said. They cared, they said. They said they understood! They _said-!_

 _They lied._

He stood up.

 _They lied._

He turned away from the old shack and started walking, his fists clenched.

 _They lied and I believed them.  
_

* * *

 **...Well, I think I might've picked up the wrong book. But perhaps I'll continue it. That is... if you enjoy it so far? Please, have another cup of cocoa. I must go tend to the fire.**

 **(I wasn't expecting to write a monologue on war {WHAT HAVE I DONE} but it happened anyway...)**


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